


Pumpkins & Proposals

by crazyinfj



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Carving pumpkins, F/M, Fluff, I now wish I had a bf after writing this..., IronDad and SpiderSon, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Proposals, because in this house we don’t let characters die, endgame Cassie Lang, if you don’t wanna feel single don’t read, ironfam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27535291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyinfj/pseuds/crazyinfj
Summary: A day of pumpkin picking leads to a campfire...which of course, leads to new beginnings.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Natasha Romanov, Cassie Lang/Peter Parker, Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), Nebula/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Pumpkins & Proposals

**Author's Note:**

> It’s totally past pumpkin season, it’s _turkey_ season, but I had this idea when my fam carved our pumpkins (late as always) and I just had to write it. Either way, here’s some ironfam fluff.

“Hey, hey, let me take that Morggie.” Peter awkwardly shifted the pumpkin in his arms to pick up Morgan’s huge choice pumpkin. “You had to choose the biggest one, didn’t you?”

Morgan only gave Peter a grin, which meant that she knew exactly what she was doing. Of course she did, she was a Stark, which meant she got all her snark from her dad, and the cunningness from her mom. 

“I’m gonna make the cutest pumpkin!” Morgan insisted. 

“You already are the cutest, pumpkin.” Tony came up, and ruffled the kindergartner’s hair, which caused her to give her dad a look of disapproval.

“Hey, we got the cider!” Rhodey yelled, shaking the gallon jug above his head as Nebula just smiled in fond amusement. Nearby, Pepper and May took candid photos of the family, which would totally be placed on their Instagrams, complete with a cheesy caption. 

Running up from the donut stand, Happy out of breath, holding a bag, announced that more were joining their party. “Nat and Bruce are meeting us at the cabin. Natasha’s bringing her best carving knives.” 

“Okay, who’s gonna carry my pumpkin?” May yelled, and Tony grinned. 

“Luckily for us, we have a spider boy here to do the heavy lifting.” 

“That’s all I’m here for huh?” Peter jested, and Tony laughed. 

“Yep, I handle all the stress and chaos of a reckless, self sacrificing teenage superhero because he can carry my pumpkins to the car.” Tony responded dryly, picking Morgan up with his good arm. 

“So your devious plan has been revealed.” May draped her arm over Peter’s shoulder and then not so sneakily put her pumpkin in his arms. “Thanks Pete.”

“That was not smooth at all.” Peter glared at his aunt, only to receive a bright smile in return. 

—

The dinner table of the Stark cabin was covered in pumpkin pulp and an array of Natasha’s knives, which in hindsight, should’ve been concerning. However, with the assassin carefully helping Morgan draw a Hulk face on her pumpkin, the knives didn’t seem half as intimidating. 

“Ooh, we should make roasted pumpkin seeds!” Peter nudged May, who smiled fondly at the memory. The last time they had made pumpkin seeds was when Peter was in fifth grade, an awkward pubescent kid with barely any hand eye coordination. Ben had insisted they go pumpkin picking, and then brought them home three huge pumpkins. That afternoon, they had eaten enough spiced seeds to get sick, and Peter had been _covered_ with pumpkin pulp. 

The memory almost made May sad, except there was also something entirely poetic about the entire thing. Before it had been just the three of them, and now they were doing the same thing, eight years later, surrounded by a family that was constantly growing. And for that, May could not be anything but thankful. 

“What is this?” Nebula asked, her voice full of disgust as she pulled out a long string of pulp, seeds hanging off her fingers. 

“That’s the pumpkin guts. We’ve got to take it all out and then we can start carving.”

“This is...revolting. It’s like...squishy.” 

Beside her, Morgan was squealing with delight, as Happy tried without success to pick the pulp strings out her hair, while Tony was drawing a goatee on his daughter’s pumpkin. 

“Who wants their cider warm?” Pepper called from the kitchen, and a chorus of ME’s rose up from the table. 

“Only Happy and Morgoona want theirs cold.” Tony yelled back, and then turned to his Ironman helmet drawn on his pumpkin. “Nat, got any knife tips for this one?”

A glint lightened up Natasha’s eyes as she came closer, spinning a knife idly in her hand, while Bruce watched with pining puppy dog eyes, until Morgan poked him out of his stupor. 

“I need you to turn into Hulk so I can draw him happy.” Morgan insisted and Bruce laughed, and shook his head. 

“Sorry kid, but I’m pretty sure he’d break the house, it’s a pretty small place for him.”

“I’ve got some pictures Morgan, if you wanna see Hulk.” Natahsa offered, whipping out her starkphone and handing it to Morgan. 

“Look! It’s you and Auntie Nat!” Morgan squealed, showing Bruce a picture of Hulk holding Natasha’s hand post battle. It had been a traumatizing fight for Natasha, a figure from her past coming back to haunt her, and Hulk had tried to make it better in Hulk fashion, by entertaining her until she smiled. Of course, it had worked and by the time they had gone to sleep that night, Natasha had been comforted by both Hulk and Bruce, in their own distinctive ways. 

“I remember that.” Bruce smiled shyly Nataha’s way, and she gave him a bright grin from Tony’s side, where she was carving out the Ironman helmet. 

“Look Mr. Stark! I made a helmet!” Peter shouted, his head covered by his pumpkin. Complete with eyeholes, Tony quickly suggested that Peter use it to fight crime. Peter adamantly refused, but offered to challenge Wade to do such, and get it on video. 

\--

Finished with their pumpkins, the group all gathered around the campfire for s'mores and stories. Morgan sat on her little chair, hugging her pumpkin close to her chest, refusing to let go of Hulk’s face, because “he would get lonely.” Something warm fluttered in Bruce’s chest at the girl’s insistence to make him feel like part of the family. 

“Gerald, I will send you to the animal farm,” Pepper threatened as the alpaca tried to sniff his way into the chocolate bars. 

“Did you know Gerald swims?” Morgan asked Peter, who shook his head no. Excitedly, the girl started to explain what had happened the previous day, when Happy had been chasing the wretched alpaca. 

Quietly, Tony poked Rhodey in the cheek, who gave him a fond eyeroll in return. “You could, you know, just pat me on the shoulder like a regular person.”

“So when are you proposing?” Tony asked instead of answering his best friend’s previous remark, noting the ring box in his pocket. Said friend subsequently choked on his marshmallow, earning a concerned look from both Pepper, who could draw her own conclusions, and a sharp smack on the back from his girlfriend. 

“Oww!” 

“Is that not how to stop the choking?” Nebula asked, completely confused, and utterly adorable. 

“No, that’s not exactly how it’s done.” Rhodey coughed one last time, before Tony pulled him backwards, so he fell off the log and onto the ground. “What the heck Tones?”

“This is how you do CPR.” Tony began to press on Rhodey’s chest, not hard enough to actually perform CPR, but to demonstrate. “When doing it in real life, you want to press a lot harder, right here.” Tony pointed to the part that he was pressing and then took his hands off Rhodey’s chest. “Wanna try?”

“Will I hurt him?” Nebula asked, unsure of herself. 

“Just don’t press too-”

“Owww!” Rhodey howled, causing Nebula to hasten backwards, fear clouding her eyes.

“I’m sorry I-”

Rhodey sat up, with a great effort on his part. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. See, I’m okay. It takes a lot more than _that_ to hurt me. It took me falling out of the sky to get hurt honey.”

“Thanks for bringing that up honeybear.” Tony deadpanned, and then shoved Rhodey back onto the ground. “Okay, you really can’t hurt him with what I’m going to show you. This is how you do mouth to mouth.” Tony wasted no time tipping Rhodey’s head back and pinching the bridge of his nose. Without reservation, began to administer mouth to mouth, occasionally stopping to give a word of advice to Nebula, who was watching with reserve. “Your turn!” Tony jumped up gleefully, and Nebula approached carefully. 

“So kissing, but you’re breathing on them?” Nebula tilted her head. Rhodey, taking matters into his own hands, flipped the scene so Nebula was laying on the ground and he was looming above her. 

“Eww gross. There are children here!” Tony stuttered when Rhodey administered mouth to mouth on his girlfriend. 

Stopping to respond, Rhodey only grinned wolfishly. “Oh yes Tony, I forgot you were here.” 

Sputtering, Tony sulked over to Pepper, who absentmindedly ran her soothing hand through his hair, and kicked up a conversation about the upcoming finals, where Peter was already drowning in the amount of schoolwork he was buried in. 

Suddenly, Happy smacked Tony, and the whole area became quiet, and all eyes turned to where Rhodey was on one knee, in front of a Nebula, who was watching him in confused anticipation. 

“Nebula, from the moment I first met you, I loved you. You were my own hero, you saved my best friend when I couldn’t. And since then, you have shown me more about love and life than I have known. And I wanna spend the rest of my life beside you. Please, Nebula, will you marry me?”

Nebula looked shell shocked for almost a full minute before she whispered a soft and disbelieving, “Me?” 

“You’re the only girl I want to marry Neb.”

“Okay then. I’ll marry you.” Nebula smiled. It was said almost monotonously, as if she still didn’t completely understand what this meant, but knew that it was Rhodey, and that he would never hurt her. And as long as they both lived, he would mean safety, he would hold her and be the love she needed. 

Shooting up from his seat, Peter let out a holler and excitedly ran to the couple. “That makes you our Aunt!! We have to celebrate!!”

Pepper shot a soft pleased smile May’s way and Peter’s aunt smiled. “He’ll never admit to it, but he’s a sucker for romance.”

“Ahh yes. Isn’t there a certain Cassie Lang that caught his eye?” Pepper smiled, recalling a conversation she, May, Nebula, and Natasha had, where they all gossiped and talked about their significant others, or in May’s case, her nephew's lack of significant other. 

“I’m still trying to convince him to ask her out, but you know Pete. He gets red at her name. But he watches Netflix romances with me and I’m pretty sure he texts her during them.” 

“The woes of love.” 

“Tell me about it.” Pepper grinned. “It took Tony and I nearly a decade to get our acts together.”

“But we did.” Tony beamed, partially defensive, but mostly proud, of both himself and Pepper, and the family they created. 

\--

After the initial excitement had simmered, Bruce received a hug from Rhodey, who apparently had something more in mind. 

“Am I wrong or is there another proposal happening tonight?” Rhodey whispered, pretending to be paying attention to Tony, who was condemning Peter for eating _that_ many marshmallows, while Peter smiled like a squirrel, his mouth stuffed full .

Bruce paused. _How obvious was he? Was he acting weird?_ “I don’t wanna take away from-“

“Stop it right there.” Rhodey ordered, but in a gentle, friendly voice. “Are you kidding? You gotta do it now!”

Bruce shifted nervously, casting a glance Natasha’s way, where she watched the two, obviously trying to read their lips and failing. Rhodey had made sure that his mouth was not in Natahsa’s weirdly wide line of vision.

“You’re right. You sure it’s okay?”

“Absolutely.” 

\--

The rest of the group was occupied making hamburgers over the fire when Bruce set his plan in action. Rather sneakily, for his standards at least, Bruce had prepared everything beforehand, and micromanaged to an extreme extent. He wanted this to be _perfect_ for Natasha. 

“Friday, get some music going!” Morgan yelled, as she tipped the grill above the fire over, Happy successfully saving all the hamburger patties with a panicked look. 

“Dance party!” Peter shouted, swinging Morgan over his shoulder. “Morggie’s my partner!”

All the respective couples partnered up, leaving Happy and May sitting around the fire, laughing as Happy offered a tentative hand to May. Morgan grinned and immediately told Peter, who couldn’t be more happy for his aunt. 

While the hamburgers most definitely burned over the fire, the group spun around with partners, occasionally bumping into each other and trading partners for more obnoxious dancing, as Rhodey and Tony paired up to perform cotton-eyed joe, being surprisingly good dancers. 

Bruce and Natasha had drifted to the far end of the group, swaying in sync with each other by the water’s edge. When the song ended, a new, slower song began, and Bruce meekly led the dance, until they spun to the large oak tree, low enough that its branches drooped in the peaceful lake water. 

_And they say love is a journey_ _  
I promise that I'll never leave  
_ _  
When it's too heavy to carry  
_ _Remember this moment with me_  


Without warning, Bruce let go of Natasha’s hands and dropped down on one knee. “Natasha, I love you. You made a place in my heart when I didn’t trust anyone to stay. Will you be my dance partner for the rest of our lives?”

The whole group, including all the ones watching from the campfire, held their breaths in anticipation. “Yes. Bruce. Yes a million times.” Natasha’s face broke into a smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you Bruce Banner.” 

This time, when the couple were interrupted, it was not Peter but Morgan, who ran up to them and hugged their legs. “I love you both 3000!”

Easily swinging Morgan into her arms, Natasha placed a wet kiss on the girl’s cheek. “Wanna be my flower girl?”

“Yes!”

“This calls for double the celebration! Friday, get us some fireworks! We’re having a party!”

—

By the time the fireworks had been delivered, Cassie Lang had arrived, and May denied everything, insisting that Matt Murdock was not there to act as her lawyer, and that she had the right to remain silent. 

“Let’s go out and watch the fireworks!” Cassie nudged him, and Peter only gave her a blank glance.

“Out where?”

“On the water! Kayaking!”

“I mean, sure if Mr. Stark is okay with that.” Peter stammered, and then fled to Tony, who was watching the whole episode play out with an amused smile threatening to appear. 

“Of course Spidey. Go woo your girl.”

“Mr Stark!”

—

Eleven pairs of eyes (and one alpaca eating grass with a little human on his back) watched as the fireworks shot into the sky, bursting in beautiful colors, the spark rising like the Ironman armor and bursting like the disintegration of life itself. 

And the pairs, in their own worlds, with their own mindsets, reflected on the symbolism and fragility of the moment. 

Fireworks could mean explosions. The avengers had too many close calls with explosions and the like. Sometimes people associated the bright fireworks with danger, with the bombs of war, the loud cries of the battlefield. And the Avengers had more than a taste of the life of war. 

But on the other side of the coin, fireworks symbolized hope, happiness, new beginnings, new wealth, and new love. And that night, as the ever growing Ironfamily watched the sky they were reminded of why they celebrated thanksgiving and family. 

Because in a day, everything changes, and moments of tranquility and joy in campfires, dancing, and pumpkins could all disappear in a snap of the fingers. 

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally just gonna do a fic about Ironfam at a pumpkin patch, but it morphed into...this.
> 
> The song for Brutasha is [I Get To Love You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?%0Av=m1mkYWkoXyo&ab_channel=Ruelle) by Ruelle. 
> 
> A big thank you for [Eylle9](https://tumblr.com/blog/eylle9) for listening to my ranting about this 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this. Comments and Kudos are love! Come yell at me on [tumblr!](http://crazyinfj.tumblr.com/)


End file.
